When dealing with this subject we enter into one of the most ghastly fields of human endeavour imaginable. Just read the two accounts in the breakout panels if you need any proof – and these are about civilians!

The laying of vast fields of anti-personnel mines with the express purpose of maiming soldiers rather than killing them is quite diabolical, as the following quote will illustrate quite clearly;

"Research has shown that it is better to disable the enemy than to kill him"
(Advertisement for Pakistani mines.)

The thinking is that injured men require more resources than dead men. A second more sinister reason takes into account the fact that the sight of maimed men can be quite demoralising for their friends and other soldiers.

However, in defence of military thinking, there is another side to this story.

Australian veterans of the Korean War can tell chilling stories of standing in the face of Chinese human wave attacks, where it was virtually impossible to fire their guns fast enough to slow or stem the onslaught. A minefield between such an enemy adds greatly to the firepower of a defending force, as the following descriptions of mines clearly indicate.

But in virtually every case, the military forces have callously walked away from the battlefield and left their silent sentinels to continue their grisly work long after hostilities have ceased.

As a result, minefield clearance is left mainly to civilian agencies to organise. This is largely because it is civilians who are suffering the agony of living with these lethal devices. With approximately 120 million mines scattered throughout 71 countries, few people in the western world have any idea of the immensity of the task facing the mine disposal teams. And nor do they have any real idea of the cost in terms of human suffering. There are up to 800 deaths and 1200 maimings each month – a tragedy of colossal proportions.

"Chyeng was fetching the cow from our field when he stepped on a mine," explained his father, Nyeng, in hospital with him. "We did not know there was any danger there. I ran into the field to rescue him, but then I stepped on a second mine and lost my leg. I am a widower with eight other children. I am very fearful for all my children as I have no money and now I cannot work the land."